Chip Ganassi Racing Shutting Down Xfinity Program

Chip Ganassi Racing announced it will shut down its Xfinity Series program for the 2019 season, which was scheduled to have Ross Chastain behind the wheel for the 33-race schedule, sponsored by DC Solar.

The announcement came a little over two weeks after agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) raided the home of DC Solar CEO Jeff Carpoff in Martinez, CA and the company’s headquarters in Benicia, Calif.

“Due to a lack of sponsorship funding we will cease operation of the No. 42 Xfinity team in 2019,” team owner Chip Ganassi said in a press statement. “This was a difficult decision for me to make and it comes with much anguish as this is a championship caliber team and more importantly because it affects a number of good people’s livelihoods. Running a car without proper funding is difficult to do.”

In 2018, the No. 42 team had six victories and finished runner-up in the owner’s championship, only behind the No. 00 team of Stewart-Haas Racing. Chastain was victorious in one of his three starts with the team, while Kyle Larson won a quartet of races with John Hunter Nemechek adding one to the column.

Ganassi confirmed that the news would not impact either Larson or Kurt Busch on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series side.

About Dustin Albino

Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2018 marks his fourth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be in the sport in some fashion. It's safe to say Dustin is living the dream.